Ballistic armor of the above type requires a design allowing the armor to have low weight and high ballistic protection. This consideration derives from the fact that the armor is normally to be carried either by a person, or by a vehicle to be protected.
The construction of ballistic armor using ceramic pellets in one of its layers is well known in the field. In most cases, the pellets are embedded in a layer or matrix of material which may be resin, rubber etc. Such armors prove to be very efficient and have high multi-hit capabilities due to the fact that impact of a projectile on one ceramic pellet, or several adjacent ceramic pellets does not essentially affect the pellets surrounding the impact area. This is contrary to monolithic armors in which impact on one spot reflects on the entire monolith.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,813 discloses multi-layered armor comprising an outer, impact-receiving layer produced as a panel consisting of a single internal layer of high density ceramic pellets retained in panel form by a solidified material, for deforming and shattering an impacting high-velocity, armor-piercing projectile; and an inner layer adjacent to said outer layer, comprising a tough woven textile material for causing an asymmetric deformation of the remaining fragments of said projectile and for absorbing the remaining kinetic energy from said fragments.
WO 00/47944 discloses a ballistic panel comprising a carrier member and a plurality of cylindrical bodies made of a high density material, the bodies being attached to the carrier member at one end thereof by an adhesive, wherein two neighboring bodies are in contact with one another along their generatrix, i.e. having their longitudinal axes parallel to one another, or wherein three neighboring bodies are attached to an intermediate filler body positioned therebetween.
US 20070034074 discloses a composite armor panel comprising a main layer of pellets in a binder matrix, and front and back layers bonded thereto by a method in which forming the main layer and bonding the front and back layers thereto are performed simultaneously. The method comprises providing the front and back layers, applying binder material to the pellets and the layers and heating the binder material to form the matrix and bind the front and back layers thereto. The method described in US 20070034074 comprises providing a mold of dimensions corresponding to those of the armor plate to be produced, disposing the mold horizontally, arranging the front layer in the interior of mold and along the side walls to form a cavity having sides and a bottom, filling the cavity with pellets in closely packed arrangement with their front ends facing said bottom, introducing in the mold the binder so as to fill all the spaces between the pellets and the bottom and sides of the cavity and to cover the pellets' rear ends, covering the rear ends of the pellets with the back layer, and applying heat to the mold and pressure to the back layer. Such method of production facilitates the application of pressure to the plate and ensures improved contact between the front ends of the pellets and the front layer, and the back ends of the pellets and the back layer, increasing confinement, due to which ballistic protection provided by the armor is improved. Furthermore, the use of ballistic fabric for the front and back layers allows for the binder material to be absorbed therein, which increases the ballistic protection capability of the armor plate.